The Lady Cyclones observe a moment of silence during the national anthem before a game earlier in the season. Russellville enters the Class 6A state playoffs as the No.2 seed. (THE COURIER / Travis Simpson)

Russellville will host the Class 6A state playoffs at two Russellville locations on Thursday.

Four games will be played at M.J. Hickey Park starting at 5 p.m., while the other four will be played at Arkansas Tech University.

“It’s a great chance to come out and see some good ball from all over the state,” Russellville head softball coach Harley Sisson said.

The Lady Cyclones enter the tournament as the No.2 seed and will face the No.7 seed out of the south, the Pine Bluff Lady Zebras on Thursday, but much of the bracket has yet to be set.

For the Lady Cyclones to advance to the finals they will have to beat both the tournament favorites, the Sheridan Lady Yellow Jackets — who are undefeated against Class 6A opponents — and the defending state champions, Lake Hamilton.

“At least we play at home,” Duvall said.

“We don’t really know who we’re going to play after Pine Bluff,” Sisson added. “We have four more games left and we’re taking them one game at a time. It’s like going up a four step ladder. Thursday we start that first step.

The Cyclones won’t know who they play in the tournament until later today.

Baseball head coach Matt Long said that they likely wouldn’t know until 9 p.m. While there isn’t much time to prepare, Long said that the Cyclones were on the right path for postseason success.

“I think that 1-0 win over Southside definitely put us in the right direction,” he said.

“Right now, depending on how things go in the East and our conference we could be the No.4 or the No.5 seed. Most likely we’ll be playing Pine Bluff or Sheridan. I think our kids understand that we have the talent to go a long way in the state tournament.”

Sisson echoed Long’s sentiments regarding the Lady Cyclones. According to him, if they play up to their potential, they can beat anyone.

“I honestly believe if we play to our potential that we can play with anybody,” Sisson said.

“There’s something we call the ‘blink’ in softball. We wait for it in a game and just play good offensively and defensively and focus.”

We wait for them to make a mistake that we can capitalize on. We talk about being ready for that ‘blink’. One error and the game can be over. We found that out against Southside. We want to be on the other end of it.”

Thursday’s game will be split between M.J. Hickey Park and Arkansas Tech University, but Friday and Saturday’s games will be exclusively at M.J. Hickey Park.